


A Feather Blessing

by epicmusic42



Series: Immortal's Curse [3]
Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Gen, Immortal's Curse AU, Loki (The Mechanisms), Odin (The Mechanisms), References to Norse Religion & Lore, Sigyn (The Mechanisms), mentions/references to:, referenced Marius von Raum, references to surveillance state
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26787061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicmusic42/pseuds/epicmusic42
Summary: There is a story.It is not a nice story. It is not a happy story. If you're desperate enough though, it can be the only hope you have.
Series: Immortal's Curse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953229
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	A Feather Blessing

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Content Warnings:  
> \- implied/referenced execution  
> \- implied/referenced surveillance state
> 
> Lyf is in the process of fleeing a newly made dictatorship. There are references to all the associated issues thereof. If you have any suggestions for how best to tag them, I would very much welcome them because I am struggling on it.

There was a story.

Several stories actually. Probably thousands if the number they had managed to convince people to share with them were any judge.

They all had different opinions, different stances, different accounts. The poem, however? The poem was consistent. ...It was the only thing that was.

They'd been to nearly a dozen different churches and at least three times as many taverns since leaving Asgard and every single skald told them the exact same poem.

Their own stories changed, but the poem stayed the same.

The first had told them a story he claimed to have learned from his grandmother, who learned it from her grandparent, who learned it from theirs. He told of a beast that could lay waste to entire armies in mere minutes. Nearly uncontrollable - the only thing that could keep it from destroying the entire land were the chains binding it.

Another had told him about a pair of lovers, somehow broken apart so that only one could emerge when their master called. Whatever the being was, they were responsible for more deaths than any plague in a single year when unleashed.

The last priest was the only one they had any belief realized what he was after, or that held any true belief in the legend.

Unlike the rest, who'd told them the stories they knew and joked that such things were the hopes and nightmares of any king, the last priest had been deadly serious as they told him what stories they had been gifted over their life.

They had given him one story for each couplet of the poem. They had already forgotten the first two, simply stories about what happened to those who sought it. The last two had been much the same.

The ones in the middle, though? The ones that highlighted each of the forms the Mechanism took? Those he had taken the time to carefully write down as soon as he could. They needed to remember those ones.

Before he had left, the priest had stopped them. For a moment, they had feared that not even the priests of Bragi were their own agents anymore.

Their fear had proven unnecessary when, after studying them for a moment, the priest had nodded once, firmly.

"If you are going to dedicate yourself to this legend, then you would do well to heed how history views those who seek them, child. There is a reason that the last line is 'even villains have those they love.' ...May your mother share her luck with you."

They'd brushed it off at the time. It hadn't seemed anything more than an old priest trying to scare someone born under Loki's cloak away from their priesthood. They'd found the raven's feather charm tucked into their bag a couple hours later though.

With that discovery, they doubted that had been what it was.

With everything that had changed in the past few months, they could only assume that they hadn't been speaking with a priest of Bragi like they had thought, like they _should_ have been. It certainly said something about the new king that a priest of her namesake didn’t feel safe presenting themself as such.

(And they knew that the priest couldn’t possibly be another child of Loki, not when they said _your_ mother. Something about calling them a Wandering priest felt off though).

They would do their best to heed the warning they were given. A feather charm wasn’t something that they had even heard of Wanderers giving out so they certainly weren’t going to refuse it. They weren’t backing down from this though.

Odin may not be the one they most wanted revenge on, but with von Raum missing since the day after her coronation, she’d do well enough.

They’d take every precaution he could, but he was going after the Mechanism. If they could find it, could make their way to it without dying, then they could maybe have vengeance.

They could respect Sigyn’s choices; no insignificant part of them yearned to turn back, to find the woman who had been friend, sister, and even mother to them in turn.

However, they knew that at best they would be able to provide her a distraction, draw their so-called king’s attention so she could take a group in to ensure that Odin had no more claim to Valhalla than she had given Loki. More likely, she would refuse to allow them to engage in battle, would try to hide them away and protect them from Odin’s supposed purging of treason.

As if Odin would allow the child-sibling of her most ardent opponent to live when she had the means to track them down so easily.

So no. They couldn’t turn back. As long as Odin thought Sigyn had taken them and was fleeing, then she wouldn’t be expecting Sigyn. And in the meantime, Lyfrassir would do what they were named to, endure.

The next town was maybe another day’s walk. They had enough coin sewn into their coat to get them a decent horse. From there, it should only be a fortnight’s ride to the border and the safety Sigyn had all but begged them to seek. Narvi would be waiting for them and Nari would be a week behind them.

A part of them felt guilty for what he was doing.

They were certain it was the only way though. “But if hope has died and push comes to shove,” was right.

Hope might not be dead yet, but he knew he wasn’t the only one considering such desperate measures. Vali was more than capable of sending a message to them even if they were forced to travel across the seas. If no word came of Odin’s death by the time they ran out of maps, then their own soul could hang for all they cared.

They were going to do whatever it took to see Odin dead.

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats. There is now actually some context for this AU. Still basically nothing. But some context.
> 
> If I missed any content warnings feel free to let me know and I'll add them.
> 
> Quick Comments Reaction Code (basically, react using these and it acts as an auto comment button):  
> ❤️️ = I love this story!  
> 😳 = this was hot!  
> 💐 = thank you for sharing this  
> 🍵 = tea spilled  
> 🍬 = so sweet and fluffy!  
> 🚔 = you’re under arrest! the writing’s too good!  
> 😲 = I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER  
> 😢 = you got me right in the feels  
> 🤯 = mind blown  
> 🤬 = god damn cliffhanger  
> 😫 = whyyyyyyy?!?!?  
> (Thanks to violetsmoak for the comment code)


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